The Media – Page 24 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Heyl’s Immaturity on Display

Someone went poking around the NRA archives and pointed out that not only is this not the first time that Eric Heyl has made disparaging remarks about people who might like to own firearms, but that his attacks on those who disagree with him are a longstanding behavior – one supported by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Here’s his response to a reader who expressed a different view:

Yep. We all have our opinions. The difference between us is that I happen to get paid for mine.

Since that email was from 2007, I guess the Tribune-Review‘s business model of “we hate you, readers” really does work. That’s too bad.

For those of you reading this blog from Pittsburgh, might I suggest the paper that ran a piece about women and guns on Sunday that didn’t include a massive dose of misogyny?

Heyl is free to be anti-gun. And his employers are free to condone his insults toward their readers. But consumers don’t have to keep buying their paper.

Picking the Wrong Target

Mr. Misogyny himself graced our presence with his response to my post about his attack on women who are able to consider weighty subjects beyond whether our shoes match our handbags. His explanation is the classic “you’re just too stupid to get ME” defense.

You folks obviously arenâ€™t adept at recognizing satire, but I do thank you sincerely for reading. Peace out, people.

Except that doesn’t work. As I said in the comments, satire is to mock. Who does his column mock? Itâ€™s not NRA or gun owners. It mocks women who express an opinion or interest outside of superficial topics. The problem isnâ€™t that we donâ€™t recognize satire, itâ€™s that we recognized his real target and find it appalling. Another comment worth noting was the response from Phelps:

Right. Satire would have been, â€œthese are the reasons the NRA has failed to attract women,â€ not, â€œthese are the reasons women are too vacuous to use guns.â€

The fact is that Eric Heyl has shown contempt for anyone who disagrees with his column. There is no room to say, “you know, you just went too far.” I think it speaks very poorly for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that they published this in the first place, but also continue to condone his responses to their readers. It’s unprofessional, disrespectful, and generally not the kind of thing you want to put on display for your customers. I know times are tight for most media businesses, but I’m not sure the “you’re all ignorant jerks” business model is generally the one that works.

Eric Heyl Hates Women

I’d like to know why the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review thought it was remotely acceptable to publish something as vile as this:

The ACLU seems to be attempting to alter that image. Its offerings at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center will include a ladies-only seminar teaching them how to organize a protest.

To most women, such a seminar probably wouldn’t have the same appeal as, say, a holistic facial at the day spa. But providing people with relaxed, radiant faces isn’t part of the ACLU’s mission.

It’s just a theory. But I think that before more women start attending the ACLU convention, more of them will have to be informed. …

Women likely won’t consider participating in public assemblies or speaking out against government policies if they are concerned that:

— Spending several hundred dollars on a protest permit might leave them without enough money to get the full treatment at that next visit to the day spa.

— Carrying a political pamphlet in a small purse would leave less room for more important items, such as lipstick or compact.

— The heavy clothing required to successfully protest outside in cooler weather would make them appear frumpy.

— Dirt and grass might stain the new Coach shoes they just bought at Macy’s.

— The printing press smell when the signs are printed could totally overwhelm the Chanel they’re wearing.

— Most sign poles come only in one boring color: wood.

— Spouting political opinions simply isn’t sexy.

Well, they did publish just such an attack, but I guess they deemed it acceptable since the right that Heyl mocks is the Second Amendment instead of the First. It’s also the NRA being attacked as opposed to the ACLU.

The reason I made changes to the column is to highlight that this isn’t about guns. This piece is flat out sexist against women who engage in any activity that doesn’t involve a mall and credit card. I thought we moved past those days back in 1950. It would seem the Tribune wants to bring those days back. Because how dare women get so uppity as to make serious decisions about things like political issues and personal issues such as self-defense.

There is no justification for this column. It has nothing to do with disagreement on the political issue, nor is it an examination of the gender participation in either the shooting sports or political field. It merely brushes across those topics in order to poorly disguise an attack on women.

For those would don’t share Heyl’s view that women are unable to occupy themselves beyond thinking about facials, lipstick, perfume, and clothes, you can email him at eheyl@tribweb.com or call him at 412-320-7857.

And shame on the gun store that participated in this load of bull – Anthony Arms & Accessories. Perhaps the reason the manager cites poor sales to women at his store is because he’s happy to paint a picture of the shooting sports as a man’s world, as evidenced by his attack on NRA as simply a boy’s club. I gave them the benefit of the doubt that perhaps the words were misconstrued, and they had no intention of working with such an anti-woman (and presumably anti-gun) columnist, but with no retraction on their website even after well over 12 hours of the story being live, it would appear they stand by their statements.

Buying Controversy

Morgan Spurlock needs to make a point about the proliferation of advertising in America. In order to make that point in a Hollywood film, he had to buy off a town in an area making massive budget cuts for $25,000.

Between April 27 and June 24, residents of Altoona will be living in “POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, Pennsylvania.”

So he’s creating controversy in order to make a film about the controversy of advertising. Remember that next time you ever see his name attached to anything.

WaPo Hating on My Home State

The Washington Post has apparently decided that they’ve hade enough of people who don’t like Obama, so they are setting their sights on the only state in the union that overwhelmingly rejected Obama & his policies back in 2008. Oklahoma was the only state in the union where not a single county voted for Obama. (The closest any county came was still a 12 point gap for McCain.) So the WaPo says Oklahomans are hypocrites for taking federal money.

Their reasons are ludicrous. They cite the existence of federal highways as an example of huge federal spending in the state. There are three.

The one we call I-35 is somewhat parallel to an old trading route that most people learned about in 5th grade called the Chisholm Trail. It wasn’t about Oklahoma porking the hell out of the federal government, but about getting cattle from Texas to the stockyards and rail lines in Kansas to feed the people in the East.
The one we call I-40 parallels much of that little road some might have heard of – Rt. 66, a road meant to facilitate travel and trade between Chicago and Los Angeles. It’s also a major east-west route from North Carolina to Southern California that just happens to be a tad easier to cross in the western portions than other areas in the Northern Rockies.
The one we call I-44 is also connected to following the old Rt. 66 path in the northeast part of the state. However, it was a series of toll roads that were built before it was designated a federal interstate.

Most of the spending the WaPo cites as evidence that Oklahoma benefits from too much federal government is related to military spending. Their first target: Tinker Air Force Base. There aren’t too many places in this country where there’s enough space to be near a reasonably major city and still secure 9 square miles of space. While it’s an Air Force base, it also serves the other branches. So we’ve got multiple military branches making use of one facility in a state where employees and land are cheaper than many other states. It’s previously been home to key military weather services. Another place that takes up space? Fort Sill. Especially for the fun stuff they do with artillery. We heard that stuff from 70 miles away. I’m not naive about military pork and political favors, but as it goes, I’m all for consolidating what we can in areas where the labor and property are cheap. That’s called getting the most for your money.

I think the bias in this hit piece is best illustrated by the fact that they spend two paragraphs with the mayor of Oklahoma City citing the benefits to having federal jobs in the area. But only one sentence sums up the key issue if the GOP has the nerve to cut a number of those jobs: “Given what he called the areaâ€™s entrepreneurial bent, the mayor said, his city would probably withstand large cutbacks in federal largess ‘better than most places.'” That’s certainly not a spirit that ~~Obama’s adoring fans~~ the WaPo wants to promote.

Why Newsweek is a Rag

Articles like this, about just how much Japan can take, is one of the many reasons I find Newsweek an insufferable publication:

The simple fact is that the Japanese archipelago is no stranger to cataclysmic events. Over time, the Japanese have endured more than their share of devastating natural disasters. As a people, they have always coped remarkably wellâ€”so well, in fact, we are left wondering if there isnâ€™t something especially resilient about them. In fact, the Japanese are the only people on this planet to fully confront the horror of nuclear destruction, and to survive it. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki near the end of World War II has become the archetypal nightmare of our time. Strangely, those events share some striking similarities with the recent compound disaster.

And what is the alternative? Has there ever been a situation in the history of mankind where a people have just declared “F*** it!” and collectively hurled themselves off cliffs? We survive because it beats the alternative. It’s a pretty simple equation and there’s nothing magical about it.

I suppose in the Newsweek world, they could all just up and decide to move somewhere else; that perhaps national despair need not rise to the level of seppuku. But can they name any land mass that doesn’t float on a sea of molten rock? Any place where mother Gaia isn’t regularly hatching schemes to screw the human race? I don’t know if anyone in the Newsweek newsroom has noticed, but we live on a planet that’s been trying to kill us most of our evolutionary history. How much can the Japanese take? How much can anyone take? People will survive because they want to live. Only Newsweek could make news out of something this trite.

Revolvers Don’t Use Casings

I know caseless ammo is something people have tried developing for years, but according to Homeland Security Newswire, it’s already fact.

New Gun Introduced in Indiana

The Glock service revolver. Glad to see them entering this vital market.

Two Things Don’t Add Up

The media is so full of crap, they don’t even smell their own half the time. This statement:

Police inÂ Colorado spent early Tuesday morning in a terrifying standoff with a suspected sniper who pinned down officers with shots from a semi-automatic rifle.

Does not jive with this statement:

As two officers approached the house, a gunman opened fire from close enough that one of the officers said he could hear the spent shells hitting the ground, Edgewater cops told Colorado’s KUSA television.

But he’s a sniper. Just look at the picture in the headline, which is clearly what he must be shooting with. Doesn’t that scare you? Plus, apparently despite this being at a frighteningly close range, the article would seem to suggest that he missed. I swear, if he had thrown a trombone at the cops, the Daily News would headline “Colorado Police Assaulted by Trombone Virtuoso.” If he had thrown a cabbage “Police in Standoff with Executive Chef.” A baseball? “Colorado Rockies Star Reliever Held Up in Home.”

But put a gun in his hands and suddenly everyone in the press room turns stupid.

Hawaiians Arming Themselves in Record Numbers

I am heartened by this news that even in Obama’s home state, there’s been a great Obama gun rush. The really interesting thing is that it seems to have started in 2004. It is unfortunate, that the newspaper was deceived by liars and swindlers at the VPC:

But national surveys indicate that Hawaiiâ€™s registration increase is bucking the national trend, Rand said.

â€œThe gun lobby is out there pushing the story that everybody wants a gun, people are flooding out to get a concealed carry license and the gun industry is booming,â€ she said. â€œBut surveys show a consistent decrease in household and personal gun ownership (nationally).â€

That’s funny, because the actual numbers suggest the trend is indeed national, and it’s not just limited to guns in the home. It’s disappointing that the Honolulu advertiser was taken by these frauds. Even more disappointing they didn’t take the five minutes necessary to fact check them.